UN votes to eject Iran from women’s rights panel in ‘historic’ move

In a significant move, the United Nations has voted to remove Iran from a prominent women’s rights body for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term for the regime’s brutal crackdown on women-led protests against the theocracy.

The decision comes into effect immediately, the United Nations said.

The move, proposed by the United States, to expel Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was hailed by activists in Iran and all across the world.

Twenty-nine members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted in favour, eight countries voted against and 16 abstained.

A UN statement said the Iran regime “continuously undermines and increasingly suppresses the human rights of women and girls, including the right to freedom of expression and opinion, often with the use of excessive force”.

It added that the regime does so “by administering policies flagrantly contrary to the human rights of women and girls” and the commission’s mandate “as well as through the use of lethal force resulting in the deaths of peaceful protestors, including women and girls”.

Iran accused Washington of pressuring other countries before the crucial vote.

The UNCSW said on Wednesday: “Today’s vote by the UN Economic and Social Council to remove Iran from the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women sends an unmistakable message of support from around the world to the brave people of Iran, and in particular to Iranian women and girls, who remain undaunted despite the brutality and violence perpetrated against them by the Iranian regime.”

Iran has been gripped by massive protests since 16 September, triggered by the tragic death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the “morality police”. The UN said it revealed an Iranian population “craving the universal human rights to which every person worldwide is entitled”.

“In response to these demonstrations, the regime has unsuccessfully attempted to suppress Iranian voices by killing hundreds of peaceful protestors, including dozens of children, and arbitrarily detaining thousands. Iranian courts have issued harsh sentences to protestors, including the death penalty, following sham trials.”

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US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said: “This vote is another sign of the growing international consensus on Iran and demands for accountability. The United States is working with our allies and partners around the world to hold Iran accountable for the abuses it is committing against its own people, notably peaceful protesters, women and girls, and the violence it is enabling against the Ukrainian people, as well as its destabilising actions throughout the Middle East region.”

He added that “the recent horrifying executions in Tehran only strengthen our resolve to expand this growing consensus and pursue all possible mechanisms of accountability against the Iranian regime and its officials responsible for these atrocities”.

Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre, an Iranian rights group, said the result was “another good day for universal human rights and international solidarity”.

She tweeted: “Iranian women were heard!”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, told the UN Economic and Social Council members that Iran should be removed because “the Commission is the premier UN body for promoting gender equality and empowering women… It cannot do its important work if it is being undermined from within”.

“Iran’s membership at this moment is an ugly stain on the commission’s credibility,” she said.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield also spoke about Mahsa Amini: “Mahsa Amini just wanted to finish her studies. She wanted to start a family. She wanted to live a normal, happy life. She was just a student. But now she’s a martyr. On September 13, when Mahsa stepped off a train in Tehran, she was accosted by the so-called ‘morality police’ and accused of wearing her headscarf improperly. … We know three days later, while still in police custody, she died. We know she was killed for the crime of being a woman.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani blamed the US for being hostile and questioned the legality of the vote. He argued: “The US request is entirely illegal as the council members are fully aware that there is no precedent in the council’s practice of terminating an elected member’s participation in a functional commission for any alleged reason, nor it is supported by the council’s rule of procedures.”

China, Russia, Pakistan, Venezuela and other nations spoke against the removal of Iran from the commission.

The UK’s ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council members that “in recent weeks, Iran has tightened its oppression of women and girls, its actions are inconsistent with the objectives of the Commission and are incompatible with membership”.